21 Horrible Sci-Fi Futures

[MB.Eddie]

Link.

21 - I AM LEGEND

Released in 2007; Set in 2012

A crazy biophage has decimated the people of New York City (and, we're led to believe, the rest of the country), leaving Dr. Robert Neville (Will Smith) alone on Manhattan Island with nothing but his search for a cure, his dog, and twisted, homicidal, light-phobic mutant survivors to keep him company.

20- A Clockwork Orange

Released: 1971; set in the near future

With a brain-washing government and gang-raping hooligans around, cat-crazy spinsters who get crushed by giant phalluses are the lucky ones.

19- Brazil

1985; 20th century. 8:49 p.m.

Technology and bureaucracy have run amok in the ultimate Orwellian satire, where life's particularly crappy — and, well, short, if your name happens to be Buttle.

18- The Road Warrior

1982; postapocalypse

Gasoline is scarce and vicious thugs traipse around the battered outback wearing hockey masks. Still, things aren't so bad if you're into leather.

17- Escape From New York

1981; set in 1997

The island of Manhattan has become an anarchy-ravaged urban prison where criminals have free rein. Although the cabbies are more helpful than ever. Go figure.

16- Logan's Run

1976; 23rd century

Okay, so you won't live past age 30. Very sorry about that. But with a purdy leetle clock embedded in the palm of your hand, at least you'll never have to ask anybody for the time.

15- 12 Monkeys

1995; 2035

Survivors of a viral plague must live under Philadelphia because scientists spend all their energy sending an amorous Bruce Willis back in time. Um, hello? How about a cure?

14- Metropolis

1927; 2026

The classes are at war. Rioting masses burn an exotic-dancing robot at the stake. Everyday existence sucks. But at least the surrounding real estate is breathtakingly beautiful.

13- The Matrix

1999; circa 2199

Since the real world is all about living in skeevy hovercrafts, dressing in dingy potato sacks, and eating bowls of goop, no wonder folks opt to spend their time in a latexy virtual universe.

12- Blade Runner

1982; 2019

Unrelenting acid rain, vicious acrobatic replicants, Daryl Hannah — they're but small prices to pay for all those pretty origami unicorns and an endless supply of ramen noodles.

11- Akira

1988; 2019

If you grew up in a neo-Tokyo beset by vicious cycle-punk gangs and an out-of-control military-industrial complex, you'd become a psychokinetic mutant and blow up the world too. Or maybe not.

[MB.Eddie]

10- THX-1138

Released in 1971; set many years from now

A few years from now, all clothing is white and everybody's bald. Tough times for you and me, maybe, but smooth sailing for Tom Wolfe and Gordon from Sesame Street.

9- Dark City

1998; set in a not-so-far-off future

Imagine the worst Jägermeister hangover on record. Except Jennifer Connelly's there, too. So maybe it's not so bad.

8- Alphaville

1965; set in a distant time, in another world

Forget about how the film's setting — on another planet in another time — looks a lot like '60s Paris. Somebody just please get that hoarse narrator dude a Ricola!

7- Fahrenheit 451

1966; set sometime after the 20th century

You say: Nobody reads, they just stare blankly at their TVs and take drugs. And we say: Are you sure we're talking about the future here?

6- The Omega Man

1971; set in the late 1970s

The last man alive is... Charlton Heston. Yep, it's as dystopian as it gets.

5- Soylent Green

1973; set in 2022

Oh, now, come on, what's the big deal? Put a dash of Tabasco on those little morsels and they taste just fine.

4- Beneath the Planet of the Apes

1970; set in the late 3900s

In the New York subway of the 40th century, the No. 7 local still doesn't stop at your station — and, whoa, look at the size of those postapocalyptic rats!

3- Death Race 2000

1975; set in, uh, 2000

But for all the bloodshed (and, okay, minus trip detours in which contestants must find trinkets buried deep inside steaming piles of elephant manure), the future, it turns out, resembles your average CBS reality show.

2- Back to the Future II

1989; set in 2015

Dystopian? A future filled with hot tubs, endless parties, and all-around debauchery is dystopian? Hell, can anybody spare a Gray's Sports Almanac?!

1- Gattaca

1997; set in the near future

Deleted scene: Genetically inferior Ethan Hawke impersonates Jude Law to become an astronaut — but just winds up getting insulted by Chris Rock at the Oscars.

[mr_kennedy]

no mention of lex?

[AvatarIII]

no mention of lex?

isn't lexx set in the present day though?

[Admiral Mappalazarou]

isn't lexx set in the present day though?

Only series 3 and 4 it is. Actually Lexx in the first two seasons was set 4,000 years in the past.

[AvatarIII]

Only series 3 and 4 it is. Actually Lexx in the first two seasons was set 4,000 years in the past.

even better!

[rlr149]

medieval dead, one of the alternate endings has him taking too many drops and he wakes 100 years later than he wanted, looks very much like he was the last man alive....................... he is ash though

the quiet earth isn't awesome either, experiment to transfer power/energy through the 'air', goes wrong and kills everyone alive, but those who die when the effect happens live, unfortunate for the guy running the experiment who commits suicide only to live and see, well, "a quiet earth" lol. goes mad for a while!

and wasn't lexx created in the dark universe then traveled through the fractal core to get to ours? surely that can't count as a future! its a different universe!! and in the past!!!

[AvatarIII]

medieval dead, one of the alternate endings has him taking too many drops and he wakes 100 years later than he wanted, looks very much like he was the last man alive....................... he is ash though

the quiet earth isn't awesome either, experiment to transfer power/energy through the 'air', goes wrong and kills everyone alive, but those who die when the effect happens live, unfortunate for the guy running the experiment who commits suicide only to live and see, well, "a quiet earth" lol. goes mad for a while!

and wasn't lexx created in the dark universe then traveled through the fractal core to get to ours? surely that can't count as a future! its a different universe!! and in the past!!!

dont you mean "evil dead 3: army of darkness" i've never heard it be called medieval dead before

[rlr149]

dont you mean "evil dead 3: army of darkness" i've never heard it be called medieval dead before

from IMDB:

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Dead (UK) (video title)
Army of Darkness: The Ultimate Experience in Medieval Horror (USA) (closing credits title)
Bruce Campbell vs. Army of Darkness (USA) (closing credits title)
Evil Dead 3 (USA) (working title)
The Army of Darkness (USA) (original script title)
The Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness (UK) (DVD box title)
The Medieval Dead (USA) (working title)

pick any.
i knew it was coming so have always called it the working title through habit though

i do prefer the other ending though with the awesome rifle shooting

[Admiral Mappalazarou]

and wasn't lexx created in the dark universe then traveled through the fractal core to get to ours? surely that can't count as a future! its a different universe!! and in the past!!!

But the last two seasons were set in the present.

dont you mean "evil dead 3: army of darkness" i've never heard it be called medieval dead before

Me neither. International name very probably.

[rlr149]

But the last two seasons were set in the present.

present

future

the above words are not interchangeable, or we would only have one of them.

[Bodmanbod]

It has I Am Legend and The Omega Man, but both are film versions of the novel I Am Legend so are really the same future just depicted in slightly different ways by the directors.

[Ouroboros]

Warhammer 40,000 is pretty hard to top as far as ****ty future outlooks for mankind go.

[NoobTau'ri]

The Matrix wins by far. This is not even debatable. I cannot think of anything worse than a future where we're turned into living batteries for machines that keep us in a virtual reality of mundane comformity which is not much better than the real one, and which feeds us with the organic matter of deceased "batteries". It is claustrophobic, cold, depraved and nihilistic to the utmost. "Terminator" is pretty bad, too. If I had to live in a World filled with fleshless homicidal robots with the size of Schwarzenegger, I would probably just put a bullet in my skull without even trying to fight back - just watch the opening scene of T3 where an entire army of terminators is marching with guns blazing and tell me that you would realistically even try to fight that.

[NoobTau'ri]

Oh yeah, and Gattaca is awesome, although unfortunately too brainy for the American audience. Who could tell that the name of Nietzsche's overman would turn out to be Jerome Eugene Morrow? I expected it to be something like Adolf Bonaparte Caesar, or something like that.

And "Clockwork Orange" is a classic, but again way too brainy for the American audience. It is arguably the most daunting critique ever of the chaotic society that followed the post-modern movement of the 1960s. Needless to say, Derrida, Foucault and Sartre all hated this film, as it was a direct critique of the mess they created with their ideas.